Chapter 9

The Austro-Prussian War was a war that had been prepared for a long time, and the entire German Empire had a very clear stance.

The conflict had already begun in April, but because of the hesitation of the Prussian King, Prussia did not start preparations for the war until May.

However, for this war, it was obvious that Prussia was the one that was more fully prepared. The Prussians had already made preparations for the unification of Germany, while the Austrians were still immersed in the dream of the empire and did not know that the situation of the Austrian Empire was already very dangerous at this time.

As time entered June 1866, the flames on the border between Prussia and Austria were further ignited.

The Kingdom of Bavaria in southern Germany attempted to initiate a confederation vote, taking this opportunity to stop the preparations for war between Prussia and Austria.

But the war preparations of the two countries had reached such a stage that it could not be stopped by a small Bavaria.

As the Iron Chancellor Bismarck declared the decision of the parliament invalid and demanded the dissolution of the confederation meeting, the entire Germany began a vigorous act of taking sides.

This upcoming war, in addition to deciding the winner, also had to decide the final master of the German region.

Standing on the side of Prussia were Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, and other states in northern Germany, as well as the three free cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck.

And standing on the side of Austria were Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, and other members of the German Confederation.

In terms of the number, population, and area of the states that took sides, Austria had the advantage. But in terms of military strength, Prussia was obviously stronger than the other side.

As June 14 officially arrived, this war, for which both sides had been prepared for a long time, also broke out.

Gao Da was not worried about this war at all. Even if it was just Prussia and Austria fighting one-on-one, Austria would definitely not be Prussia's opponent.

Although the Italian army could not play a big role, it could also contain a part of the Austrian army in the early stages of the war.

And Garibaldi had already prepared an army of tens of thousands of people in advance, at least this army would not be a drag.

If the Austrians really underestimated the enemy, perhaps Italy could not only recover the Venice region but also demand the South Tyrol region that it had longed for.

It is worth mentioning that because he was worried about Garibaldi leading the army alone, Vittorio Emanuele II also agreed to Gao Da's request, which was to invite Garibaldi's second son, Defense Qiao Di, to be Gao Da's Duke Palace military officer.

This position had no real power at all, after all, Gao Da was not qualified to have a guard team.

Defense Qiao Di's daily task was to accompany Gao Da to the military academy to study, and incidentally handle some chores for Gao Da.

While Gao Da was studying military affairs day after day, the war between Prussia and Austria was also in full swing.

Although the entire battlefield was divided into three places, the decisive battlefield was still in the Bohemia region.

This was not only the place where the main forces of the Prussian army and the Austrian army fought, but also the most essential part of the Austrian Empire.

The good news is that Gao Da, by virtue of his connections, could easily get the latest battle reports from the front line and then publish them in his 24-Hour Sun.

Incidentally, getting some news about Garibaldi from time to time had completely stabilized the status of the Italian 24-Hour Sun in the Italian public opinion circle.

Taking advantage of the east wind of the outbreak of this war, the daily sales of the Italian Sun had exceeded 15,000 and were moving rapidly towards daily sales of 20,000.

If it weren't for the limitations of printing technology and communication technology of this era on the expansion of the newspaper, I am afraid that the Sun could take this opportunity to become the largest newspaper in Italy.

The entire war did not last long, because Prussia was worried that France would interfere, which made the war start vigorously and end in a hurry.

The good news is that Italy successfully obtained the reward for participating in the war, the complete Venice region and a part of South Tyrol.

The bad news is that the Italian army and Vittorio Emanuele II showed a very poor side in the war, and the performance of more than 100,000 Italian troops was not as good as Garibaldi's army of more than 10,000.

However, as the saying goes, the flaws do not cover the jade. Compared to the national celebration brought about by recovering Venice and annexing half of South Tyrol, Vittorio Emanuele II's poor military command could also be actively ignored by the Italian people.

At least in this matter, Vittorio Emanuele II and Garibaldi reached a compromise.

Garibaldi hoped to see a unified and powerful Italy in his lifetime, and Vittorio Emanuele II hoped to complete the great goal of unifying Italy during his tenure, and the two could be said to hit it off.

It was also good for Gao Da.

The opinion of letting Garibaldi recruit troops and prepare for war was proposed by Gao Da, and the facts proved that it was still very effective.

If it weren't for Garibaldi's army playing a big role on the southern battlefield, it would have been very difficult for Italy to recover Venice, let alone annex a part of the South Tyrol region.

The biggest factor in this was Prussia's worry about France's intervention.

In history, after the Italian army was defeated, Garibaldi was ordered to take over in a crisis, and with only 38,000 troops hastily assembled, he defeated the Austrian army many times, and even almost fought to the Tyrol region.

But at that time, Prussia was worried about France's intervention and demanded that the Italian government withdraw its troops immediately with an extremely tough attitude.

Garibaldi had no choice but to withdraw from South Tyrol, which also made Italy only harvest the Venice region that the Austrians voluntarily gave up in this war.

And now, because of Garibaldi's active attack, he had already taken down most of South Tyrol before the Prussians demanded the withdrawal of troops.

This also became the confidence of the Italian diplomatic department to demand South Tyrol. Although it only obtained less than half of South Tyrol in the end, it was at least more than what was harvested in the original history.

Compared to Italy, the Kingdom of Prussia was definitely the country that gained the most from this war.

After the end of this war, the German Confederation announced its dissolution, and Austria had lost its control over the German region.

And Prussia leaped to become the leader of all states in the German region, and annexed the Kingdom of Hanover, becoming the new hegemon in the German region.

This was still very friendly to a country like Italy. With Prussia attracting the eyes of Britain and France, Italy could develop in a low-key manner for a period of time, and Gao Da did not have to worry that some of his operations would cause greater accidents.

Seeking monthly tickets, seeking recommendation tickets, seeking follow-up reading, seeking investment!

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(End of this chapter)